Staples has become the first major U.S. retailer to offer easy access to 3-D printers on its website. Staples is offering a printer by a company called 3D Systems known as The Cube. The 3-D printer is available for $1,299.

The Cube uses digital design files as blueprints to build physical three-dimensional objects layer-by-layer using plastic. The printer is capable of printing just about anything the user can dream up from action figures to iPhone docks and more.

Cube 3D Printer

The Cube can print products up to 5 1/2 inches on each dimension. Print media is available in 16 different colors and the printer ships with 25 design templates included.

Staples will also offer consumables for the 3-D printer online and in some of its stores.

Speaking of 3-D printers, a company called Defense Distributed recently tested the world's first completely 3-D printed gun. The only parts of the weapon not created using a 3-D printer are the firing pin, which is a nail, and the .380 caliber bullet. The weapon successfully completed a single test shot and misfired on an additional test shot.

When loaded with a more powerful 5.7 x 28 rifle cartridge the gun exploded.

Yeah there's no need for a large gun and/or caliber for the sorts of devious purposes one might imagine for a printed gun.

If you're an assassin, all you need is a dinky little Derringer-style gun with a single .22 load. Sneak up on your target, apply the gun to a nice squishy spot on the noggin, and the .22 does the job quite adequately.

So many ways to kill. Hell look at what happened in Boston a few weeks ago... It goes to show you, if someone is set on killing people, they will get it done one way or another. "Guns dont kill people, nuts and bolts in a chem stew in a pressure cooker kills people".

You're absolutely right but he's trying to say that now there's a new option for people bent on doing bad things. Not only that, it's as easy as operating a printer and downloading a file. It's also very easy to conceal, hide, dispose of and track. The other problem is that these guns can be made to look like it's something else.Criminals now can have a little more peace of mind as their evidence trail can easily be disposed of.

Wrong conclusion. Please research the origin of the term "Liberator" in the context of firearms and try again.

Your theoretical assassin would be better off with a common ballpoint pen in the circumstance you describe (namely, not so much an 'assassination' as an execution). Really, a quick rabbit punch would do as much without the mess and gunpowder residue.

A criminal (later comments) doesn't want a wierd plastic gun; he wants intimidation. The psycho or terrorist won't get too far with one .380 shot.

The only practical use for this is the one the original WWII "Liberator" was designed for: resistance against tyrants (in the original, Adolf's boys).

You only need to fire one shot and hit your target. At this size and being plastic, it's undetectable in most cases. When 3D printers are produced on mass scale, imagine how hard it would be to trace a weapon in an investigation.

Then we'd have a bunch of OJ Simpson-like crimes and many more books titling "If I did it"